J-Trax: Yoshida Ichiro Untouchable World – 安居

Yoshida Ichiro, bass player of famed Tokyo-based band Zazen Boys has a new record out called あぱんだ“(Apanda) under the moniker “Yoshida Ichiro Untouchable World.” The record was produced and released by Mukai Shutoku’s (Zazen Boys, NUMBER GIRL) Matsuri Studio. The Studio also produced two videos for the record, similar to what they did for the release ofZazen Boys 4. One for title track あぱんだ and one for 安居 (Ankyo).

安居(Ankyo) or “Drainage Ditch” is one of my favorite tracks I’ve heard from these guys and has one of the coolest videos I have ever seen. I am huge fan of Zazen Boys/Matsuri Studios and their really eccentric and eclectic style. Ankyo brings those same characteristics in a synth pop meets hip hop package. The track starts with Ichiro singing almost brutishly along to a poppy sounding synth chorus line while we watch the sunset from a train in tokyo. The energy is cut with a very stark and empty sounding synth arpeggio as we are moved into a dark room where he slaps the most mesmerizing funk bass line and switches to a rap vocal.

The video jumps between beautifully shot scenes of a sunset train ride through industrial Tokyo and Ichiro playing instruments and gesturing along as he raps in a dimly lit studio. I think the minimalism of it really captivates me, its just very clean and cool. His monk style paired with modern rapping and synth music is really cool. I think it’s important to note that Yoshida Ichiro is an incredibly skillful bass player too, probably one of the best in the world, so it’s cool to watch him play a really funky and pop driven bass line. I also had no idea he could shred and do in tune/out of tune guitar solos! Did I already use the word cool?

—

Yoshida Ichiro Untouchable World – あぱんだ is out now on CD and can be purchased on CD from Amazon here in the US. If you are in Europe type in “Apanda” in your Amazon search and it should come up. I had a hard time finding it when searching his name.